Chapter 1058 1944: Speed and Lightning (8, 1500 Votes Plus Additional Content)
In the next few days, the SS "Thor's Hammer" Armored Group and some units of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army conducted actual combat exercises on the island of Madagascar. In order to successfully complete the South African campaign, Hoffmann prepared a total of more than 500,000 elite troops. , not only the most capable units of the SS were included (including the Prinz Eugen Division), but the 6th Army also underwent a comprehensive overhaul. A large number of Type 1944 infantry divisions, Panzergrenadier divisions, and mountain divisions were all adapted to the new requirements. Complete the replenishment (the pure infantry group army does not send armored divisions, but the infantry divisions and grenadier divisions have armored units), and crush them with the attitude of "lion fighting rabbit with all their strength".
At present, most of the troops have been deployed on the Mozambique-South Africa front line, and the reserve troops remain in Madagascar for exercises.
Thor's Hammer has a total of more than 300,000 men, divided into two clusters on the left and right, led by Hausser and Dietrich; the 6th Army has nearly 200,000 men, and its apparent strength has dropped significantly from when Paulus first led it, but its combat effectiveness is only Strong or weak. The new commander of the army, General Wenck, is currently the youngest army commander in Germany at only 44 years old. He and Manteuffel, who is only 47 years old, are regarded by Hoffman as the most important rising stars.
Among the main officers of the Mesozoic Era, Sauken would stay in the American Republic to help Paulus command the ground forces; Manteuffel returned to Western Europe to help Rommel command the German troops in the coalition (Gauss had booked the post of chief of staff of the Western European Command in advance), Wen Gram will be placed in Africa or the Middle East for experience. After the older generation fades out of the arena, this group of young people will be able to take over. As for the core group of third-generation officers, it is something to consider in the future - not only to consider the performance, but also to see whether they can adapt to the trend of the new military revolution.
Hoffman has his own considerations when it comes to the age structure and political orientation of military officers. At present, the age structure of German generals is relatively reasonable and the new generation is constantly emerging (the new generation of the US military is not good, and the Soviet army has more new generations, but it is too fast). As long as Optimize it a little bit. But there are many things to consider in terms of political orientation, and the restrictions on the Juncker Group will remain the same.
The veteran Lundstedt was the leader of the officer corps. He was already old. He was originally placed on the Western Front with the intention of serving as a supporter. Now there is nothing wrong with letting him retire. From now on, the position of leader of the officer corps will be given to Manstein. , the Junkers themselves also recognized it, but Manstein did not dare to be as arrogant as Rundstedt in his attitude towards the Führer; Küchler was also a member of the officer corps, but he had always let him be the commander of the Northern Army Group. Hoffman was very dissatisfied and asked him to retire and return to his country to take up honorary positions. Everyone was also speechless.
For a senior figure like Blomberg who had been ostracized by the officer corps, Hoffman left him as Army General Counsel, who looked similar to Raeder's Navy General Counsel. But the former has actual status, and the latter is really a false position.
In the crucial troop leadership position in the future, the Eastern Front has put the two defense masters Model and Reinhardt, and the combination is very reasonable; the Western Front is going to put Rommel, this is a figure who can calm the law and suppress the British, no one dares What is there to question? From now on, Scherner will be the sole leader of the local team, loyal and courageous. Paulus has always been a confidant and went to America; Raus was the Austrian compatriot of the Führer and went to Africa; Guderian, not Juncker, was arranged to be the commander of the rapid reaction force with the strongest mobility and practical combat capabilities... which is equivalent to Hoffman's Preliminary adjustments and screening of high-level generals have been completed quietly.
After the completion of the South African Campaign, the size of the army will also be adjusted, with the overall disarmament trend in which the proportion of the army will decrease and the proportion of the navy and air force will increase. Many of the troops who participated in the South African Campaign will stay in Africa to serve as military presence after the war, and the same will be true for the troops in the Americas... According to Hoffmann's idea, Germany needs to retain at least about 3 million Wehrmacht troops in the future, of which 1.5-1.8 million will be included The EU coalition forces are uniformly funded by the European finances (of course Germany also contributes part of the funds). 500,000-700,000 are used to protect German overseas interests. Troops are stationed in the four major regions of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East; the remaining troops remain at home. Act as backup.
There are also about 300,000 SS troops - this is the party's army. He thinks it is more reasonable to retain a standard equivalent to one-tenth of the Wehrmacht; two-thirds are German soldiers, and the other third will be recruited from all over Europe. On a volunteer basis, the SS also served in the short term as supervisor of strategic nuclear forces - to date, all nuclear programs had been carried out under SS supervision.
After a certain degree of demobilization, Germany still has a defense force of nearly 8 million. It is impossible to reduce it to 3 million all at once. The high command is prepared to slowly complete this rhythm within 5-8 years; as for future scientific and technological progress, it will enter informatization and high-tech. At the stage of the technological war, Hoffman believed that there was no need to retain even 3 million. Maybe 2 million could complete the task, but that would be 20 or even 30 years later, so there was no need to rush.
While the exercise was in full swing, the Tsukahara fleet moved northward along Central America, harassing all the way.
On the morning of the 21st, the fleet launched an air attack on the US military aviation base in Costa Rica;
In the afternoon of the same day, the fleet launched an air attack on Nicaragua;
On the 22nd, the fleet even dispatched some light and heavy cruisers to accompany the Nagato to bombard Guatemala under the cover of fighter jets...
After the Pearl Harbor Incident, these small Central American countries all followed the United States in declaring war on Japan. Now they are finally reaping the consequences. They are suffering terribly from the attacks and have no place to complain. The U.S. Army Air Forces almost sent the Japanese fleet away like a "plague".
On the evening of the 22nd, Horikichi received a message from the submarine force, informing him that a large fleet was leaving Pearl Harbor. The number and model were unknown.
"Sir, it seems that the Americans finally couldn't hold back and chased the Tsunoda fleet..."
"If we don't come out, the Americans won't have any chance when Tsukahara comes back from Central America." Horikichi looked at the chart and asked, "It will take about three days for our army to reach the designated position?"
"If nothing unexpected happens, it will be three days."
"Where is Tsunoda now?"
"There has been no contact for 28 hours. The last time I contacted him, he reported that he was heading north."
"Then we must hurry up." Horikichi knew that Tsunoda must be planning something when he adopted radio silence, and ordered to generate electricity again. "Tell Tsunoda to pay attention to safety. Starting tomorrow, our fleet will also enter radio silence."
What the Japanese submarine detected was the TF50 fleet led by Halsey. In the early morning of the 21st, he boarded the Franklin and couldn't wait to take all the battleships (including the newly repaired Wasp) out. He and Ingram had two goals: on the one hand, he tried to encircle and suppress the Tsunoda fleet, and on the other hand, he hoped to destroy the Tsunoda fleet as soon as possible. West Coast convoy escorts back to Hawaii.
It was a good idea at first, but when news came that Tsukahara's fleet was harassing Central America and moving north, Halsey was extremely depressed and believed that it was impossible to accomplish these two goals at the same time. The reason was simple: there was no time at all.
By the evening of the 22nd, the Tsukahara fleet was only more than 4,000 kilometers away from the Pearl Harbor-West Coast route. It only took 6 days at best, or even less than 6 days. It could enter the strike range of carrier-based aircraft starting from the 5th day, while the TF50 was far away from the West Coast. It is nearly 3,000 kilometers and takes at least 4 days. Even if we do not consider the deterrence of the Japanese army's break-up fleet and take the risk of allowing the transport fleet to move forward 500 kilometers (this distance can be effectively covered by land and aviation), the time can only be compressed to 3 days.
These three days are just the time for the TF50 to meet the transport fleet. After the reception, it immediately turned around and returned to Pearl Harbor. It still had to travel more than 3,000 kilometers on the road before entering the Pearl Harbor air defense circle. Given the slow speed of the transport ship, it would be at least another 5 days.
With all the calculations, it would take Halsey 8 days even if everything went well, but it would only take 6 days for the Japanese army to arrive and destroy this transportation line. In order to get the fleet back to Hawaii safely, either the Japanese army would slow down or the enemy would not notice him at all. Ingram did not dare to bet on either of these two variables. After learning that the Japanese fleet had moved north, he anxiously photographed " "Turn around" telegram, hoping that Halsey would take the TF50 back home. This order immediately made the latter depressed.
However, Spruance's suggestion prevented Ingram's order from being implemented. The latter bluntly pointed out that the TF50 fleet must be released.
This is not the impulse of Spruance himself, but the conclusion reached by Washington staff after detailed deductions on the sand table: If the Japanese main fleet returns and blocks the route, considering that they have replenished enough fuel in Lima , even with the consumption of three dozen Panamas, it can still be supported at sea for more than 45 days, which is enough time for the Tsunoda fleet to go to Lima to replenish and return.
The staff came to a conclusion during the deduction: the two Japanese fleets could take turns changing guards and handing over replacements, blocking the west coast tightly. If TF50 doesn’t go out now, it won’t even have the chance to go out in the future!
Based on the U.S. military's excellent logistics supply style, they quickly figured out the Japanese army's supply system: first, the Tsukahara fleet blocked the blockade, and Tsunoda went to supply; 45 days later, the Tsukahara fleet did not have much fuel left, and at this time, the Tsunoda fleet took over the blockade task. Tsukahara only needs to inject excess fuel into Taiho and Shinano, and let these two warships temporarily join Tsunoda's force to perfectly "suppress" TF50, and then other units will go to Peru or Galapagos Island to refuel.
Although TF50 has 2 battleships, 2 fleet aircraft carriers and 12 escort aircraft carriers, if it does not rely on the cooperation of the army and aviation forces, judging from the war game alone, it is still not the Japanese army's "2+1" (battleships 2+1, fleet aircraft carriers are also 2 +1) Prepared opponents.
What's even worse is that under this kind of deduction, Hawaii's strategic situation will become increasingly worse. The consumption of inventory fuel has been greatly reduced after strict control. However, even so, the total inventory has been reduced to less than 450,000 tons. Calculated at this consumption rate, all fuel will be exhausted by the end of March next year. Without the Japanese attack by then, Hawaii will be finished first.
There is only one implicit subtext: TF50 is waiting for death if it does not go out to challenge, and it is courting death if it goes out to challenge the main force of the Japanese army.
Waiting to die isn't Halsey's style, so he goes out looking for it...